Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Hamas' Human Rights Violations

This is day 4 in the 2008 Mideast war and hostilities show no sign of ebbing.

This morning's Los Angeles Times features a useful article on the background to the conflict, "
A Primer on Gaza, Israel and Some of the Key Factors Behind the Current Violence."

Meanwhile, Jeff Robbins at the Boston Globe offers an analysis of
the systematic human rights violations of Hamas:

LAST MONTH'S commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provided the occasion to ask difficult questions about societies whose political leadership serially violates them. What, for instance, is to be done about places like Darfur or Zimbabwe, or any one of a multitude of places governed by leaders whose consciences appear untouched by the suffering they are causing? To the list of grotesque human rights violators must be added Hamas, whose disdain for the suffering its policies cause the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip is exceeded only by its open, and even proud, infliction of atrocities on Israeli civilians.

This year alone, Hamas, which expressly calls for the obliteration of Israel, has launched approximately 3,000 rockets and mortar bombs into Israeli civilian centers, always for the purpose of killing and maiming Israelis if possible, and terrifying those who are not actually hit. In the last week or so, Hamas has fired some 200 rockets and bombs into Israeli communities.

Under these circumstances - circumstances which would have continued without end had the Israelis failed to act - it seems clear that the Israeli military response was not merely a necessary one. It was, regrettably, the only one left.

Israeli author Amos Oz, whose call for peace with the Palestinians is shared by a majority of Israelis, succinctly described the brutalization of Israeli civilians in terms that cannot fairly be disputed. In a recent piece entitled "Israel Must Defend Its Citizens," the longtime advocate for reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis wrote: "The systematic bombing of the citizens in Israel's towns and cities is a war crime and a crime against humanity."

Oz is correct. But it isn't only Israelis whose fundamental human rights Hamas is violating. It is those of the Palestinian population about whose welfare Hamas professes to care.

In direct contravention of international law, Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, utilizing homes, schools and community centers as launching pads, content in the knowledge that if innocent Palestinian civilians are caught in the cross-fire, it will be Israel that is criticized. This amounts to a sort of Daily Double of human rights violations: the use of innocent Palestinians as human shields for the infliction of violence upon innocent Israelis.
There's more at the link.

6 comments:

  1. CS said...
    Phillippe, I am glad you and I agree on something. That, it is reprehensible to torture people under any circumstances.

    Unfortunately there are degenerates that advocate this practice, as long as it is administered by "their" people.

    They live by the principle of "if the saint does it, there's no guilt".

    Pay close attention the use of phrases like, "ADVANCED INTERROGATION TECHNIQUE" ?

    This is neo-con babble for nothing else but TORTURE. This type of word play is used rampantly in politics and policy making in order to confuse decision making and implementing processes and to maintain ambiguity in the intentions of said policies.

    Infact, a friend of mine wrote a masters thesis on this exact topic, specifically the usage of convoluted ambigiuous language to mask the real intentions and meanings of policy.

    December 30, 2008 7:20 AM

    ReplyDelete
  2. C.S.: Philippe hasn't even commented yet. If you want his blog, go here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I made a mistake, it was supposed to be a reply to a post on your article on torture (aka advanced interrogation techniques!), or at least what the rest of us know as TORTURE.

    Sorry

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hamas doesn't recognize human rights. Islam doesn't recognize human rights. These political organizations are terrorist organizations. Any religion whose "holy books" states to kill those who don't agree and seek world domination is political rather than religious and is a terrorist organization. Islam is not. imo, a religion. It's a hate group. Their creeds advocate mass murder and global domination (along with the abuse of women and children and the overthrow of Constitutional Governments and free people.)
    This dangerous radical political group should be recognized as terrorist. I don't believe it's really a religion. I believe it's a radical political movement that incites terrorism.

    Grace.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Holy books like this one? "The act of murder is rampant in the Bible. In much of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, there are laws that command that people be killed for absurd reasons such as working on the Sabbath, being gay, cursing your parents, or not being a virgin on your wedding night. In addition to these crazy and immoral laws, there are plenty of examples of God's irrationality by his direct killing of many people for reasons that defy any rational explanation such as killing children who make fun of bald people, and the killing of a man who tried to keep the ark of God from falling during transport. There are also countless examples of mass murders commanded by God, including the murder of women, infants, and children." (http://www.evilbible.com/Murder.htm)

    People who live in glass houses, GE...

    ReplyDelete